Helmut Lange Movies

This seven-hour long epic completes the "German Trilogy" of Hans-Jurgen Syberberg, which began with his meditation on the life of Ludwig II of Bavaria and continued with a biography of popular writer Karl May. In this film, he explores the factors in the German psyche which sought for and then deified a man like Hitler. Using absolutely no archival footage from the Nazi era, this highly symbolic and poetic film explores German culture and history. At times, Hitler is depicted as a toga-clad spirit, quoting Richard Wagner, and at times he appears in other guises -- all of them critical to understanding his role in the German mind, and hence to understanding the phenomena which caused the German people to support him. The film uses transcripts from radio broadcasts made during the Nazi era to underscore the importance of radio in unifying the nation at that time. Hitler: ein Film aus Deutschland was made to run in four segments on German, British and French television. The segments were titled "The Grail," "A German Dream," "The End of the Winter's Tale," and "We Children of Hell." Understanding that evil is clearly the purpose of this epochal and difficult film, the director said that, "It is easy to understand the revolt of slaves but difficult to comprehend the evil of tyrants." ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

This Italian James Bond takeoff stars Helmut Lange as a girl- and gadget-happy secret agent. His mission is to retrieve a laser device from the bad guys and claim it for his own country. Barbara Lass, the unforgettable star of Werewolf in a Girl's Dormitory, is the woman in the case. The chase sequences are fun to watch, but the one-line quips lose a lot in the translation. Serenade for Two Spies gained its greatest American exposure in "Late Show" TV packages of foreign secret-agent capers of the late 1960s, hastily assembled to cash in on the Bond craze. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The notorious Nazi "breeding" camps provide the basis for this dark drama that centers upon one of the women selected to participate in the program designed to produce a master race. The men are selected from SS agents and soldiers. While there, the woman falls in love with a man posing as an SS agent to avoid execution. She also finds herself the object of the camp commandant's affections. Eventually she and the phony agent try to flee to Switzerland, but en route, he is killed, and she is only spared because she is pregnant. Her baby is soon killed after it is born, but during a bombing raid, the woman manages to escape. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

In this mystery, based on a story by Edgar Wallace, Scotland Yard looks into a ring of counterfeiters. He soon discovers that an amnesiac playboy is linked to the gang of forgers. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi